LESSON LXX.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE.

The two great divisions of composition are prose and poetry. The grand distinction in form is metre or measure. The chief object of prose is to instruct, to convince, or to persuade; while the chief object of poetry is to give pleasure or inspiration. Both kinds of composition employ figurative or representative language to please, to adorn, to illustrate, or to explain.

1. An expressed comparison is called a simile; as, He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Blue were her eyes as the fairy flax.

2. An implied comparison is called a metaphor; as, She is an angel. This news was a dagger to his heart.

3. When the name of one object is put for some other, so related that one naturally suggests the other, the figure is called metonymy; as, The pen shall supersede the sword. No man reveres the crown more than I do.

4. When life and mind are attributed to inanimate objects, the figure is called personification; as, The mountains looked on Marathon, and Marathon looked on the sea. The smiling spring comes round once more.

5. When two unlike things are contrasted, that each may appear more striking, the figure is called antithesis; as, Go or stay, whichever you will. Success wins attention; failure wins neglect.

6. When the mind is aroused by a contradiction between the form of the language and the meaning really intended, the figure is called an epigram; as, The favorite has no friend. Genius is an immense capacity for taking trouble.

7. When something absent is addressed as if present, the figure is called apostrophe; as, O, death, where is thy sting?

8. When the language expresses the contrary of what is meant, the figure is called irony; as, No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom will die with you.—Job.

EXERCISE.

Name the figures in the following passages, and state what is gained by the use of each:—

1.	Some people are too foolish to commit follies.
2.	Youth and beauty must be laid in the grave.
3.	A true friend, like a mirror, will tell us of our faults.
4.	War flings his blood-stained banner to the breeze.
5.	The light of the Constitution shines in the palace and the cottage.
6.	Though gentle, yet not dull;
	Strong, without rage; without o’erflowing, full.—Denham.
7.	There is a tide in the affairs of men,
	Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.—Shakespeare.
8.	Sweet friends! What the women lave
	For its last bed of the grave,
	Is a hut which I am quitting,
	Is a garment no more fitting.—Arnold.
9.	Ayr, gurgling, kissed his pebbled shore,
	O’erhung with wild woods, thickening green;
	The fragrant birch and hawthorn hoar
	Twined amorous round the raptured scene.—Burns.
10.	And, as a bird each fond endearment tries
	To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies,
	He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,
	Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way.—Goldsmith.